UNM football notebook: Lobos land Australian punter via transfer portal

He is a 27-year-old veteran of semi-professional football — at least a different form of it.

He also is the newest Lobo.

New Mexico announced Monday the commitment of punter Daniel Hughes, a transfer from City College of San Francisco and a former Australian rules football player.

The 6-foot-5, 235-pound sophomore will be with the team for fall camp, lending UNM some much-needed depth at punter. The Lobos carried only one punter — redshirt junior Charles Steinkamp — during spring practice, and were expected to add another ahead of this season.

As a freshman at CCSF, Hughes averaged 37.3 yards over 49 attempts with a career-best 62-yard punt. He had 18 punts inside the 20-yard-line, forced 13 fair catches and posted two touchbacks over 10 games as the Rams’ starting punter.

But Hughes’ background is in a different game: Australian rules football. The Victoria, Australia native played two seasons for the Northern Bullants in the Victorian Football League, the second rung of the sport, behind the Australian Football League.

Hughes appeared in 11 games for the Bullants, making 51 tackles and 55 kicks with 23 marks (when a player catches a kicked ball.) He was signed by the Ovens and Murray Football Netball League’s Wangaratta Rovers in January 2023; it is unclear if he appeared in a match for the Rovers.

UNM opens fall camp Wednesday, with practices from 9 to 11:30 every morning through Saturday.

Lawyer up

A former Lobo is taking college athletics’ governing body to court. Southern Cal offensive lineman D.J. Wingfield has filed a lawsuit against the NCAA, seeking a temporary injunction to play a sixth season of college football.

Wingfield’s suit alleges that he would lose $210,000 in possible compensation by not playing this year at USC. He joined the Trojans in January after spending last season at Purdue, but his waiver for an additional season and subsequent appeal were denied this spring.

Wingfield previously played two seasons at UNM, making nine starts in 2023.

“(It’s) a process that is ongoing right now,” USC head coach Lincoln Riley said of Wingfield’s eligibility situation Thursday at Big Ten Media Days. “Wish I could comment on it a little bit more, but it’s one of those that we’ve got to let it play out. But he’s been a full participant up to any limits that have been established.”

Watch list

UNM running back Scottre Humphrey and defensive end Keyshawn James-Newby were named to the East-West Shrine Bowl 1,000, a watchlist of the top 1,000 all-star game and draft-eligible players in college football.

Humphrey joined the Lobos in January after rushing for 1,386 yards and 16 touchdowns last season with Montana State. James-Newby recorded 65 tackles, 14½ tackles for loss and 10½ sacks with Idaho before following former Vandals head coach Jason Eck to New Mexico in December.